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MALL
Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) Introduction It is common to observe students on campus who are texting their friends using PDAs, cell phones or iPhones, or searching and working on the internet using net books or small laptops. They are often busy with these mobile devices while they wait for class to begin. Even during a class, their fingers, eyes and sometimes ears are occupied by these daily technological routines. These small devices become a link to their peers, and texting, watching or listening via these small devices becomes a fundamental part of their daily language consumption and production. So, these interactions with handy devices become routine in their lives. It is predictable that in the near future, with the development of cheaper and more convenient small devices, everybody might make these routines natural. Thus, the intention of the paper is to investigate how these small devices with social networking capabilities can provide pedagogically useful functions in education, especially foreign language instruction. As mobile technology develops, it affords second or foreign language learners and teachers ever greater opportunity to practice the target language “anywhere and anytime (Geddes, 2004).” Moreover, with less expensive devices, it is becoming more and more common to use technology in learning and teaching contexts. With its portability, mobile technology expands learning and teaching opportunities for second and foreign language learners and teachers. Moreover, with user created content, which enhances users’ participation, Web 2.0 technology provides new kinds of learning and teaching with technology in second and foreign language instruction. In addition, because the basic concept of Web 2.0 is sharing information and collaboration (see the definition in the next section), it makes it easier for learners to connect not only to other learners, but also to native speakers of the target language around the world. Most of all, the use of these technologies addresses many of the major challenges of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), such as comprehensible input or “i+1” (Krashen, 1985), the interaction hypothesis (Long, 1983, 1996), corrective/facilitative feedback (Gass, 1997; Long, Inagaki, & Ortega, 1998), and learner autonomy (Benson, 2001). It is both timely and appropriate to investigate how these technologies can be implemented in foreign language instruction. Even though empirical research using these technologies is still scarce, it is worthwhile to see what opportunities are available and make suggestions for future use and research. Thus, this paper intends to outline theoretical and praxiological foundations in MALL and CALL and suggest pedagogical templates for the use of Web 2.0 and mobile devices in foreign language instruction. Specifically, this paper intends to provide a basic framework for how Web 2.0 technology can be used in second or foreign language learning and teaching with mobile devices, and illustrate sample activities of MALL as they apply to pedagogical paradigms of second language acquisition. This paper concludes with suggestions for future research or future use, pedagogical benefits and limitations. Definition ''' '''Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) describes an approach to language learning that is assisted or enhanced through the use of a handheld mobile device.[1] [2] MALL is a subset of both Mobile Learning (m-learning) and Computer-assisted language learning (CALL). MALL has evolved to support students’ language learning with the increased use of mobile technologies such as mobile phones (cellphones), MP3 and MP4 players, PDAs and devices such as the iPhone or iPad. With MALL, students are able to access language learning materials and to communicate with their teachers and peers at any time, anywhere. 1.1 What is mobile learning? ' Mobile learning is undergoing rapid evolution. Early generations of mobile learning projects tended to propose formally-designed activities, carefully crafted by educators and technologists, and using emerging technologies that were not yet widely accessible or well understood. Current, widespread ownership of mobile and wireless devices means that learners are increasingly in a position to take the lead and engage in activities motivated by their personal needs and circumstances of use, including those arising from greater mobility and travel (Kukulska-Hulme, Traxler & Pettit, 2007; Pettit & 1. In this paper, the term ‘interactive’ and its derivatives refer to human-human interaction. 2. Distance and blended learning models may include an online component. 3. The Open University, UK offers synchronous online language learning tutorials via its own audiographics conferencing system, Lyceum. An Overview of Mobile Assisted Language Learning 273 Kukulska-Hulme, 2007). Whilst, in the past, mobile learning has often been defined in terms of its use of mobile technologies, more recent thinking has foregrounded the mobility of the learner .Often, the informal aspects of m-learning are also emphasised . While it could be argued that m-learning involves the use of any portable learning material, so includes books, audio-cassettes, audio-CDs, and portable radios and DVD players, for example, m-learning usually concentrates on the most recent technologies. Trifanova et al. define mobile devices as “...any device that is small, autonomous and unobtrusive enough to accompany us in every moment”. Typically, m-learning is identified both by being available “anywhere, anytime” and by the tools used: mobile learning can perhaps be defined as “any educational provision where the sole or dominant technologies are handheld or palmtop devices” although in reality it is more usually confined to being one aspect of the provision. For our purposes, then, ‘mobile learning’ refers to learning mediated via handheld devices and potentially available anytime, anywhere. Such learning may be formal or informal. '''2 Mobile Assisted Language Learning: an overview of the field ' As access to wireless networks expands and ownership of devices that can communicate with such networks increases, the use of mobile devices to support language learning becomes ever more common. MALL differs from computer-assisted language learning in its use of personal, portable devices that enable new ways of learning, emphasizing continuity or spontaneity of access and interaction across different contexts of use. As has been pointed out by Laurillard “a typical m-learning activity could build in more opportunities for digitally-facilitated site-specific activities, and for ownership and control over what the learners do”. In general, MALL would be expected to use technologies such as mobile phones, MP3/MP4 players, PDAs and palmtop computers. An investigation of the MALL literature reveals that it is, indeed, these devices that research in the field has tended to employ. For the purposes of the current paper, a survey was carried out of MALL-related literature published in major, peerreviewed, CALL-related journals (such articles were found in ReCALL, Computer Assisted Language Learning, JALT-CALL and System). The Academic Search Complete database and Google Scholar were also queried to search for literature in this field, whether this was published in the area of CALL or in more general e-learning journals. Furthermore, several relevant papers presented at mobile learning conferences are included. While the overview presented here is not – and, because of the rapid rate of publication of MALL-related articles cannot be – comprehensive, it identifies current trends in the use of mobile devices to support language learning. '''3 MALL '–'' design issues and learner needs ' Like the majority of research in the areas of materials development and activity types, those studies dealing with design issues and learner needs concentrate on text-based content. They do, however, seem to differ from the content-based approaches already outlined in that their emphasis is less “…on a traditional educational paradigm, where students are provided material by the teacher” (Petersen & Divitini, 2004:172) than on an approach where learners define their own learning and even provide materials to other learners. 2.3.1 Mobile phones Naismith et al. (2004) refer to the fact that a web-based Japanese system for English language learning – Pocket Eijiro – receives more than 100,000 hits per day. This system was designed for access via WAP-enabled mobile phones. Morita (2003) also draws attention to the popularity of this material and emphasises the necessity to redesign web-based material for mobile access. Web- and mobile-based learners may have different needs, he suggests: “A WBT training system assumes that learners will prepare time to study in front of a computer, but a MBL learning system ought to assume that learners will not prepare time to learn with MBL; instead the learning takes place in their spare-time such as during their waiting time” (2003:1). In their discussion of the Stanford study outlined above, Trivanova and Ronchetti (2003:1796) revisit the issue of formal / informal learning and the time available to learners to take part in m-learning. Like Morita, they point out the importance of An Overview of Mobile Assisted Language Learning 279 ensuring that language learning materials for use with mobile devices should be appropriately designed and, at the same time, they suggest that the Stanford study aimed to make use of the “highly fragmented” attention of m-learners by providing “short (from 30 seconds to 10 minutes) learning modules”. Pemberton and Fallahkhair (2005) and Fallahkhair et al. (2007) extend the use of webenabled mobile phones, describing the development of a cross-platform approach using mobile phones and interactive television for informal language learning; they argue that, while mobile devices afford a wide variety of personal activities and learning on-themove, they are less powerful for enabling learning from authentic and immersive content. In contrast, television provides rich multimedia presentation of authentic and immersive content that is constantly renewed. Programmes such as news, soap operas and documentaries have the potential to enhance language learners’ experience by showing the target language, culture and context of use (2007:312). We have already seen that m-learning in more formal language learning contexts tends to concentrate on the delivery of activity types such as quizzes and vocabulary items that the provider believes to be relevant to their students’ needs. Considering the less formal end of language learning, Fallahkhair et al. suggest solutions that empower learners to take control of their own learning, tapping into ‘authentic’, TV-based presentations to do so. 2.3.2. Handheld computers/ PDAs Cho et al. (2004) outline the design of ‘mobile-based courseware’ that allows learners of Korean based in Korea to make use of the many wireless hotspots in urban Korea. Using a games-based paradigm, the authors describe an approach where, using a PDA and the wireless network, “ a learner solves some problems to feed or bathe a cyber-pet” (2004:174). This, they suggest would be an engaging activity; learners would communicate with the courseware to ‘care’ for the cyber-pet, reading and / or listening in Korean to language-related problems (vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing, listening) requiring solutions, with the option of reading the menu in English. They would also be able to communicate with volunteer Korean language tutors via SMS, text chat or telephone. Their performance would be recorded by the system and sent to the tutor for the purpose of monitoring their progress. Here, the design of the system draws together formal and informal approaches to mobile assisted language learning; progress is formally monitored while learners are able to access the system ‘anytime, anywhere’ and tutors are volunteers who “…can easily help and teach learners while doing their jobs” (op. cit). Cui and Bull (2005) describe an intelligent tutoring system – TenselITS – specifically designed to support Chinese students of English in learning about verb tense in English. The system adapts the interaction according to a user’s current knowledge state, their location, their ability to concentrate at that location, the likelihood that they will be interrupted, and the amount of time they have available for learning (2005:365). This approach allows for high portability and provides learners with ‘anytime, anywhere’ access they can specify according to their context, although limitations around storing large amounts of material on handheld computers at present mean that synchronisation with a desktop computer is advisable when large files are involved. Again, it is noticeable that learners take control of what they learn rather than having pre-defined learning delivered to them, whether in ‘chunks’ or in larger units. 280 A. Kukulska-Hulme & L. Shield Context sensitivity is an issue addressed by Ogata and Yao (2003) in a description of CLUE, a computer-supported ubiquitous language learning environment that interacts with sensors in the environment to provide learners of Japanese with the appropriate polite expressions for their current context. Unlike the majority of studies described so far, this one outlines how the system described supports collaboration between learners via a bulletin board and instant messenger-like chat tool: for example, learners are able to see who entered a particular expression and can use the communication tools to ask text-based questions of that person about the entry. The language learning context is, once more, less formal than those for the content-related studies outlined above. Again, learners are encouraged to take control of what they learn. '3 MALL: anytime, anywhere? ' Many of the studies described in the above section that addresses content-related MALL activities, appear to subscribe to a model whereby materials are delivered to learners via SMS or a website (see Table 1 in Appendix A for a summary of the research reported here). Very few activities support learner collaboration or communication. While Dias (2002a, 2002b) promotes learner-learner interaction, of the work using more expensive mobile devices, only Southampton (JISC 2005) used MALL to encourage collaboration and co-construction of knowledge; learners had to find information and share it with their peers in order to build up an overall understanding of a real-world problem, namely, the layout of the campus and the location and purpose of various buildings. Although Lan et al.’s study (2007) encouraged learners to support each other in developing their skills in reading aloud and listening to each other doing so, it does not seem to facilitate synchronous interaction of any other sort, either through text or voice. The chat sessions reported by Samuels (2003) allow learners to communicate with each other, but in text rather than voice. The chats themselves do not appear to have been structured in any way, so there is no evidence they were planned to help with knowledge co-construction. Mobility and portability too often seem not to be fully exploited in the design of MALL activities, even though it is precisely these affordances that justify using mobile devices at all. Many of the studies ignored the ‘anytime, anywhere’ affordances supposedly offered by mobile devices; for example, SMS messages were sent to learners at set times, on set days (Levy & Kennedy, 2005) rather than learners being able to obtain this information as and when they wanted it. Turning to low-tech, low-cost mobile devices, there is, as yet, too little evidence to make claims concerning their efficacy for MALL. The studies reported adopt models where learners use mobile devices in conjunction with web-based tools to reach outcomes that can be viewed by an audience beyond their immediate peer group. In both cases, the mobile device is integral, adding an extra dimension to the learning experience by allowing learners to identify, edit, and share their own materials in a way analogous to Shneiderman’s ‘relate’ (identify), ‘create’ (edit), ‘donate’ (share) philosophy (1998). Studies that deal with design issues and learner needs seem to take a somewhat different approach. We have seen that they tend to address issues of ‘anytime, anywhere’ learning as part of the design process. While the activities that are reported rarely allow for collaborative learner interaction, there is a movement towards giving the learner the An Overview of Mobile Assisted Language Learning 281 power to choose what, when and where to learn that is not always apparent in the more formal contexts of the content-related MALL studies.